Despite “severely” spraining his ankle last week, an injury that was thought to keep him out for the Olympics, Hornets’ No. 1 overall draft pick Anthony Davis reportedly still plans to participate at Team USA’s training camp in hopes of securing one of the final 12 spots for the team that heads to London.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Davis’ ankle injury isn’t as serious as once thought, but he is still expected to miss seven to 10 days. He’ll report to USA Basketball’s training camp in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
The final roster is set to be announced as part of a selection show on NBA TV on Saturday, meaning that the 15 finalists have just a couple days to prove they can play basketball, or something. However, nine players reportedly are already assured of making the cut. Those nine are reportedly LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler. As it very well should be.
By simple math, that means the remaining six players — Blake Griffin, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, James Harden, Eric Gordon and Davis — will be duking it out for the final three spots.
Even though Davis is expected not to participate in any practices before Saturday’s selection show, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski will reportedly remain patient with Davis. And after Lamar Odom dropped out of contention earlier this week, in addition to the rash of injuries, Team USA might have no other choice, given how thin they are in front court depth.
Note: This post also appeared on Yardbarker’s Medal Detector blog
